Folding-machine for collars and similar articles.



J. W. GARDNER & J. W. CONDON. FOLDING MACHINE FOR COLLARS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1 APPLICATION FILED NOV-6,19.

WITNESSES:

mam/0V4 60/41.

INVENTOR 57a 5mm W THE COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH co.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

J. W. GARDNER & J. W. CONDON.

FOLDING MACHINE FOR COLLARS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 6, 1912.

1 177 696 Patented Apr. 4,1916.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2- z A O i J 9 11" l I 20 /6 f 77 I I I I??? l-3:7 3/ w I X WITNESSES: INVENTORSv WAT TY rm! COLUMBIA RLANOGRAPH C0,, WASHINGTON, n. c.

J. w; GARDNER & J. w. CONDON. v FOLDING MACHINE FOR COLLARS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 6, 1912.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTORLS' Z ZL BY WITNESSES:

THE COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH no WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrrou. Y

JOHN W. GARDNER AND JOHN W. CONDON, OF TROY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS T0 C. FERGUSON COLLAR COMPANY. OF TROY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION.

FOLDING-MACHINE FOROOLLARS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that we, JOHN W. GARDNER and J OHN WV. CoNnoN, citizens of the United States of America, and both residing at the city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding-Machines for Collars and Similar Articles, of which thefollowing is r a line parallel with the bed or support on which the collars are folded, the result being that shorter sizes have more spring than the longer ones, a defect which is overcome by ourv invention. v

- WVe have also provided means for moving the folding blades to conform to our inven tion and means for exerting pressure upon the article to be folded, and such other elements and combinations as are hereinafter set forth and claimed.

lVe accomplish these objects by means "of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure lis a plan of our machine after the removal of the die. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the bed of the machine with the die raised. Fig. 3 isa plan of the bed of the machine with'the folding blades and die removed. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of our machine. Fig. 5 is anelevation of the side of the machine opposite that shown. in Fig. 4. 1

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The bed, A, is mounted on a suitable frame, B, by means of bolts, C, or in any suitable manner. On the bed, A, we form the runways, a, 7) and a, into which reciprocate the arms, E, F, and G, respectively. The arm, E,is attached to or formed integral with the plate, H, and the arm, F, is likewise formed in connection with the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

Application filed November 6, 1912. Serial No. 729,759.

plate, J, the arm, G, being part of the plate, K. a

The runway, a, is at such an angle to the hor zontal axis of the bed, A, that the plate, H, may be moved by the reciprocation of the arm, E, toward the center of the, bed, A, as well as toward the side opposite the said runway; and in the same manner, the run way, is arranged in reference to the plate, J. The runway, 0, is substantially at ri ht angles to the axis of the bed, A. The plates, Hand J, are curved and have their concave sides toward the axis of the bed; the plate, K, is also curved and has its convex side toward the axis of the'bed.

On the plates, H, J and K, we adjustably secure the folding blades, L, N, O and Q, preferably by means of the bolts, f, 1', p and (I. passing through the elongated slots, q. We also-secure to the plate, H, an extension blade, M. This blade" maybe secured, as shown in the drawing, attached to the strip, m, by screws, m and'n, which strip isalso attached to the blade, L. by means of the rivets, 0, 0. The blade, M. preferably overlaps the plate, J .although is not attached to it. The-blade, M, may be changed for another blade corresponding to the length and shape of the collar or article to be folded. We also secure to the blade, Q, a plate, P, which is substantially the same in its manmi of mounting and construction as the blade, M. We do not wish to confine ourselves to this method of attaching the different blades to the plates, as'it is evident that other means may be adopted consistent with the invention. It is also evident that the blades. M and P, may be omitted. in which case the blades, L and N, would be each in one piece, but lengthened and separate blades used for each size of collar to be folded. Likewise the blades, 0, P and Q, may be integral and interchangeable. The different lengths and extensions of the folding blades attached to the plates, H, J and K, are so formed that they always conform to asegment of the circumference of a circle.

In order to move the plate, H, and therefore the folding blade attached to it, we

mount a bell crank lever, R, pivoted at s, and having one end hooked adapted to en gage a projecting knob, S, on the arm, E. lThe other end ofthe bell crank lever is provided with a roller, T, adapted to engage disk on the shaft, l/V, into contact with the roller, T, the bell crank lever, B, will move 1n such a manner as to cause the arm, E, to

move toward the center of the bed, A. In

the same way, the bell crank lever, 9, connected by knob, 10, with thearm, F andhaving a roller 11, engaging the cam disk, 12, will move the plate, J, toward the center of the machine. A like bell crank lever, 13, connected with the knob, 14, and provided with a roller, 15, engaging the cam disk, 16, will move the plate, K, toward the center of the machine.

Near the rearward edge of the bed, A, we place the blocks, V, provided with bearings for the trunnions, X, on the curved head or block, Y, which carries the die, Z; An'arm, y, is attached to the curved head, Y, forming, with the rest of the head, a bell crank lever mounted by the trunnions, 'X, in the blocks, V, to which arm, 3 we attach the rod, o, which extends to one end of the foot lever, a, fulcrumed at z, and provided with the foot pedal, 00. The rod, 1), also carries the weights, 1/. By pressing the foot on the foot pedal, 00, the rod, o,-will-b'e lifted and the die, Z, depressed and brought into contact with the collar on the bed,"A.'

In order to press down in position the folded portions of the collar we force the pressure plate, 20, upward against the die, Z, and blades, L, M, N, O, P and Q. This may be done by the mechanism illustrated more particularly in Fig; 4, although we do not wish to limit ourselves to this means of applying pressure to the folded article lgetween the dieand blades away from the ed. i

The die, Z, may be made in separate portions to allow for extensions or contractions, or an entire die may be provided for each length of article tobe folded, but when such extensions or contractions are made the edges of the die conform to the same segment-ary extensions and contractions as the folding blades.

A shaft, 50, to which power is applied by means, shown conventionally in 'Fig. 5, carries a gear, 21, and is provided'with a cam face, 22, which by the rotation of the gear engage a roller, 23, on a lever, 24, which lever is pivoted to the base of the frame. The lever, 24, has attached to it a rod, 25,

' which is connected with a block, 26, to which are pivoted at 27 the ends of the links, 28 and 29. The link, 28, is pivoted at '30, to the frame, B, of the machine. The link, 29, is connected with an arm 31, pivoted at 32, to the lower portion of the frame, B. The arm, 31, is connected with the rod, 33, which is attached to one end of a lever, 34,

pivoted to the fr me, Bglat 3,5,"andconnected with the rod, '36, which engages the pressure plate bracket, 37. As thus con nected up when the cam, 22, engages the upward through the bed A. The gear, 21, meshes with the;gear,:38, which issuitably mounted on the shaft connected with the fore the pressure plate bracket, 37, passing frame, B, the gear, 38, meshing with the gear, 39, which is keyed to the shaft, W, which carries the disks, u, 12 and 16. The inner edges of the folding blades, while in their outward position, conform to the pe-' rimeter ofthe'die and form a matrix slightly larger than the die, conforming to the shape thereof.

The operation of the'machine is as follows :--The' blank to be folded is placed on i the folding blades. The foot is placed on the pedal, m, which by means of the rod, 2), and the swinging support, 'I ,Y, causes the dieto descend, passing the edges of the folding blades and upturning the edges of the a 7 blank between the edges of the die and the 1" folding blades. A stop, not shown, on the swinging support of the die determines its position at the conclusion'of itsoperation. The upturned edges of the blank hold itin position while the folding'blades are caused to move inward by the action of the rotating. 7

disks, U, 12 and 16, thereby infolding the upturned edges of the blank over thedie'.

A continuance of the operation of the ma,-

chine brings the pressure plate upward'and in contact with the underside of the. blank 7 held on the die, pressing the inturned edges of the die against the blades. continuance of the operation causes :the pressure plate to descend, after which the folding blades are withdrawn and the die' with the blank attached raises to its original position. The movements of the different A further 7 elements of the machineare made automatic 7 by means, not shown, but succeed each other and return'to their or ginalpositlon when pressure is placed on the pedal, m.

What we claim as our inventionand deside to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine for folding collar blanks and similar articles,a series of reciprocating plates; a series of blades curved along one edge; and means for adjustably securing said blades to said plates, permitting of the 2. In a machine for folding collar blanks and the like, a series of curved folding blades; a series of plates; means for reciprocating said plates; means for adjustably securing said folding blades to said plates; and means for extending said folding blades in the direction of the arc of a circle.

3. A machine for folding collar blanks and similar articles, comprising a bed; runways formed therein; an arm adapted to reciprocate in each of said runways; a plate attached to each said arms; a series of curved folding blades provided with elongated curved slotstherethrough; bolts secured to said plates and passing through said slots;-

an extension blade secured to one of said plates between two of said curved blades.

4. In a machine for folding collar blanks and similar articles; a die over the edges of which the blank is folded; a series of folding blades curved along one edge; a series of sliding plates also curved along each edge; means for securing said blades to said plates, whereby the blades on said plates may be moved in the direction of the arc of a circle corresponding to the direction of the curve of said curved edges when the circumference of the circle has been increased by the distance that the blades have been moved; with means for exerting pressure on said die, blank and folding blades, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

. JOHN W. GARDNER.

JOHN W. CONDON. Witnesses:

J os. P. DELANEY ARTHUR R. LINK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents. Washington, D. G. 

